Glossary

Names

Abakumov, Viktor Semyonovich (1894–1954). Stalin’s Minister of State Security, 1946–1952. Executed in December, 1954, under Khrushchev.

Agranov, Yakov Savlovich (?–1939). Deputy People’s Commissar of Internal Affairs under Yagoda and Yezhov. Played important role in preparing show trials of 1936–1938. Shot in purges.

Aikhenvald, Yuli Isayevich (1872–1928). Critic and essayist, translated Schopenhauer into Russian. Exiled in 1922.

Akhmatova (Gorenko), Anna Andreyevna (1889–1966). Acmeist poet, wife of Nikolai Gumilyev. Denounced in 1946 as “alien to the Soviet people.” Long unpublished in Soviet Union; some works published after 1956.

Aldanov (Landau), Mark Aleksandrovich (1886–1957). Writer of historical novels; emigrated 1919 to Paris, and later to New York.

Aldan-Semyonov, Andrei Ignatyevich (1908–). Soviet writer; imprisoned in Far East camps, 1938–1953. Author of memoirs.

Aleksandrov, A. I. Head of Arts Section of All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries; purged in 1935.

Alliluyevs. Family of Stalin’s second wife, Nadezhda Sergeyevna.

Amfiteatrov, Aleksandr Valentinovich (1862–1938). Russian writer; emigrated 1920.

Anders, Wladyslaw (1892–1970). Polish general; formed Polish military units in Soviet Union and led them out to Iran in 1943.

Andreyev, Leonid Nikolayevich (1871–1919). Playwright and short story writer, close to Expressionism; died in Finland.

Andreyushkin, Pakhomi Ivanovich (1865–1887). Member of Narodnaya Volya terrorist group; executed after attempt to assassinate Alexander III in 1887.

Antonov-Saratovsky, Vladimir Pavlovich (1884–1965). Old Bolshevik, served as judge in Shakhty (1928) and Promparty (1930) trials.

Averbakh, I. L. Soviet jurist; associate of Vyshinsky.

Babushkin, Ivan Vasilyevich (1873–1906). Russian revolutionary.

Bakhtin, Mikhail Mikhailovich (1895–). Literary scholar, expert on Dostoyevsky. Unpublished in Soviet Union from 1930 to 1963.

Bakunin, Mikhail Aleksandrovich (1814–1876). A founder of Anarchism.

Bandera, Stepan (1909–1959). Ukrainian nationalist; led anti-Soviet forces in Ukraine after World War II until 1947; assassinated in Munich by a Soviet agent.

Bedny, Demyan (1883–1945). Soviet poet.

Belinsky, Vissarion Grigoryevich (1811–1848). Literary critic and ardent liberal, champion of socially-conscious literature.

Benois, Aleksandr Nikolayevich (1870–1960). Scenic designer; emigrated 1926 to Paris.

Berdyayev, Nikolai Aleksandrovich (1874–1948). Philosopher, religious thinker; opposed atheism and materialism. Expelled in 1922; lived in Paris after 1924.

Beria, Lavrenti Pavlovich (1899–1953). Georgian Bolshevik, became close Stalin associate in 1938, in charge of secret police and national security. Executed after Stalin’s death.

Biron or Biren. Russian name of Count Ernst Johann Bühren (1690–1772). A favorite of Empress Anna Ivanovna, under whom he instituted a tyrannical rule.

Blok, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (1880–1921). Symbolist poet.

Blücher, Marshal Vasily Konstantinovich (1890–1938). Commander of Far East Military District, 1929–1938; shot in purge.

Blyumkin, Yakov Grigoryevich (1898–1929). A Left Socialist Revolutionary; assassinated German Ambassador Mirbach in Moscow in 1918; later joined Cheka; executed after he took message from Trotsky to Radek.

Boky, Gleb Ivanovich (1879–1941). Secret police official; member of Supreme Court after 1927; arrested in 1937.

Bonch-Bruyevich, Vladimir Dmitriyevich (1873–1955). Bolshevik revolutionary; administrative officer of Council of People’s Commissars, 1917–1920.

Bondarin, Sergei Aleksandrovich (1903–). Children’s writer.

Budenny, Marshal Semyon Mikhailovich (1883–1973). Civil War hero; commander of Bolshevik cavalry; commander Southwest Front in early phase of World War II.

Bukharin, Nikolai Ivanovich (1888–1938). Prominent Party official and economic theorist; member of Politburo after 1924 and general secretary of Comintern after 1926; expelled from Party in 1929; executed after 1938 show trial.

Bulgakov, Mikhail Afanasyevich (1891–1940). Satirist, most of whose writings have not been published in Soviet Union.

Bulgakov, Sergei Nikolayevich (1871–1944). Religious philosopher; exiled in 1922, lived in Paris.

Bunin, Ivan Alekseyevich (1870–1953). Writer; emigrated 1920 to France; won Nobel Prize in 1933.

Bunyachenko, Sergei K. (?–1946). Commander of 1st Division of Vlasov’s forces in World War II; executed in Soviet Union in 1946.

Charnovsky, N. F. (1868–?). Soviet economic official; among defendants in 1930 Promparty trial.

Chekhovsky, Vladimir Moiseyevich (1877–?). Ukrainian nationalist.

Chernov, Viktor Mikhailovich (1873–1952). Socialist Revolutionary Party leader; emigrated in 1920.

Chubar, Vlas Yakovlevich (1891–1939). High Soviet Ukrainian official; shot in purges.

Chukovskaya, Lidiya Korneyevna (1907–). Soviet literary critic and writer (samizdat).

Dal (Dahl), Vladimir Ivanovich (1801–1872). Lexicographer.

Dan (Gurvich), Fyodor Ilyich (1871–1947). Menshevik leader, physician; exiled in 1922.

Denikin, Anton Ivanovich (1872–1947). Tsarist military leader; commanded anti-Bolshevik (White) forces in south, 1918–1920; emigrated.

Derzhavin, Gavriil Romanovich (1743–1816). Poet and statesman under Catherine II.

Dimitrov, Georgi Mikhailovich (1882–1949). Bulgarian Communist leader; chief defendant in 1933 Reichstag trial in Leipzig.

Dolgun, Alexander M. (Alexander D.) (1926–). American-born former employee of United States Embassy in Moscow; spent eight years (1948–1956) in Soviet prisons and labor camps; allowed to leave Soviet Union in 1971.

Donskoi, D. D. (1881–1936). Right Socialist Revolutionary.

Doyarenko, Aleksei G. Soviet agronomist; a defendant in Working Peasants Party case of 1931.

Dukhonin, Nikolai Nikolayevich (1876–1917). Commander in Chief of Tsarist Army; slain by soldiers.

Dyakov, Boris Aleksandrovich (1902–). Author of labor-camp memoirs.

Dzerzhinsky, Feliks Edmundovich (1877–1926). First chief of the secret police (Cheka-GPU-OGPU); succeeded by Menzhinsky.

Ehrenburg, Ilya Grigoryevich (1891–1967). Soviet writer and journalist; spent many years in Paris; author of memoirs of Stalin era.

Etinger, Y. G. (?–1952). Soviet physician, arrested in 1952 in so-called “doctors’ case.” Died under interrogation.

Fedotov, A. A. (1864–?). A Soviet official; defendant in Shakhty trial.

Figner, Vera Nikolayevna (1852–1942). A leader of Narodnaya Volya group, took part in successful conspiracy to assassinate Alexander II in 1881.

Filonenko, Maksimilian Maksimilianovich. Right Socialist Revolutionary; led anti-Bolshevik forces in Archangel in 1918.

Frank, Semyon Lyudvigovich (1877–1950). Religious philosopher, pupil of Solovyev; exiled in 1922.

Fyodor Ivanovich (1557–1598). Halfwit son of Ivan the Terrible, whom he succeeded in 1584. His regent was Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar, 1598–1605.

Gaaz, Fyodor Petrovich (Haas, Friedrich-Joseph) (1780–1853). German-born physician of Moscow prison hospital; sought penal reforms.

Gamarnik, Yan Borisovich (1894–1937). Soviet military leader who committed suicide during purge.

Garin, N. (Mikhailovsky, Nikolai Georgiyevich) (1852–1906). Marxist writer, who depicted young Tsarist engineers.

Gernet, Mikhail Nikolayevich (1874–?). Writer on the death penalty.

Ginzburg, Yevgeniya Semyonovna (1911–). Author of labor-camp memoirs, Journey into the Whirlwind.

Gippius, Zinaida Nikolayevna (1869–1945). Writer, wife of Merezhkovsky; emigrated in 1920.

Golikov, Marshal Filipp Ivanovich (1900–). Soviet military leader; supervised repatriation of Red Army prisoners from Germany.

Golyakov, Ivan Terentyevich. Presiding judge of Supreme Court under Stalin.

Gorky, Maxim (Peshkov, Aleksei Maksimovich) (1868–1936). Writer; opposed Bolsheviks at first and lived abroad (1921—1928); returned to Russia in 1931; died under mysterious circumstances.

Gots, Abram Rafailovich (1882–1940). A Right Socialist Revolutionary leader; a defendant in 1922 trial.

Govorov, Marshal Leonid Aleksandrovich (1897–1955). Soviet military leader.

Griboyedov, Aleksandr Sergeyevich (1795–1829). Playwright and diplomat.

Grigorenko, Pyotr Grigoryevich (1907–). Former Red Army general, became a dissident in 1961; in mental asylums since 1969.

Grigoryev, Iosif Fyodorovich (1890–1949). Prominent Soviet geologist.

Grin (Grinovsky), Aleksandr Stepanovich (1880–1932). Writer of romantic, fantastic adventure stories.

Grinevitsky, Ignati Ioakhimovich (1856–1881). Revolutionary, member of Narodnaya Volya group. Threw bomb that killed Alexander II March 13, 1881; was himself mortally wounded.

Groman, Vladimir Gustavovich (1873–?). High Soviet economic official; a defendant in 1931 trial of Mensheviks.

Gromyko, Andrei Andreyevich (1909–). Soviet diplomat; former ambassador to United States and delegate to United Nations; Foreign Minister since 1957.

Gul (Goul), Roman Borisovich (1896–). Émigré writer of historical works; editor of Novy Zhurnal, a magazine published in New York.

Gumilyev, Nikolai Stepanovich (1886–1921). Acmeist poet, first husband of Akhmatova; accused in anti-Soviet plot and executed.

Herzen, Aleksandr Ivanovich (1812–1870). Liberal writer.

Ilin, Ivan Aleksandrovich (1882–1954). Mystic philosopher, exiled in 1922.

Ivan Kalita (?–1340). Founder of Grand Duchy of Muscovy.

Ivanov-Razumnik (Ivanov, Razumnik Vasilyevich) (1876–1946). Left Socialist Revolutionary; served in Tsarist prison (1901) and in Soviet labor camps; went to Germany in 1941.

Izgoyev (Lande), Aleksandr Solomonovich (1872–C.1938). A Right Cadet writer; expelled from Soviet Union in 1922.

Izmailov, Nikolai Vasilyevich (1893–). Soviet literary scholar, editor of Pushkin’s works.

Kaganovich, Lazar Moiseyevich (1893–). Close associate of Stalin, in charge of railroads. Ousted from leadership in 1957.

Kalinin, Mikhail Ivanovich (1875–1946). Nominal President of Soviet Union (1919–1946), first as Chairman of All-Russian Central Executive Committee until 1922, then as Chairman of Central Executive Committee of U.S.S.R., and after 1938 as Chairman of Presidium of Supreme Soviet.

Kamenev (Rosenfeld), Lev Borisovich (1883–1936). Prominent Bolshevik leader, expelled from Party in 1927, readmitted and re-expelled; executed after 1936 show trial.

Kaplan, Fanya (Dora) (1888–1918). A Left Socialist Revolutionary; executed after unsuccessful attempt on Lenin’s life in 1918.

Karakozov, Dmitri Vladimirovich (1840–1866). Revolutionary; executed after unsuccessful attempt on life of Alexander II in 1866.

Karsavin, Lev Platonovich (1882–1952). Mystic philosopher; expert on medieval history; exiled in 1922.

Kasso, Lev Aristidovich (1865–1914). Reactionary Minister of Education under Nicholas II.

Katanyan, Ruben Pavlovich (1881–1966). Soviet state prosecuting official in 1920’s and 1930’s; arrested 1938.

Kazakov, Ignati Nikolayevich (1891–1938). Physician accused of having murdered Soviet officials through use of “lysates” (antibodies); shot after 1938 show trial.

Kerensky, Aleksandr Fyodorovich (1881–1970). A Socialist Revolutionary leader; headed Provisional Government, July to November, 1917; fled to France; died in New York.

Khrustalev-Nosar, Georgi Stepanovich (1877–1918). Elected Chairman of St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers’ Deputies in 1905; opposed Bolsheviks in Ukraine in 1918; shot by Bolsheviks.

Kirov (Kostrikov), Sergei Mironovich (1886–1934). Close Stalin associate; his murder in Leningrad, reputedly inspired by Stalin, set off wave of mass reprisals.

Kishkin, Nikolai Mikhailovich (1864–1930). A leader of Constitutional Democratic Party; a defendant in 1921 trial of famine-relief aides.

Kizevetter (Kiesewetter), Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (1866–1933). Cadet leader and historian; expelled in 1922; lived in Prague.

Klyuchevsky, Vasily Osipovich (1841–1911). Prominent historian.

Klyuyev, Nikolai Alekseyevich (1887–1937). Peasant poet; glorified ancient Russian values, opposing Western cultural influences; exiled to Siberia in early 1930’s.

Kolchak, Aleksandr Vasilyevich (1873–1920). Tsarist admiral; led anti-Bolshevik forces in Siberia, 1918–1920; executed.

Koltsov, Nikolai Konstantinovich (1872–1940). Prominent biologist; founded experimental school in Russian biology.

Kondratyev, Nikolai Dmitriyevich (1892–?). Agricultural economist; figure in Working Peasants Party case in 1931.

Kornilov, Lavr Georgiyevich (1870–1918). Commander in Chief of Russian forces under Provisional Government; led revolt against Kerensky in August, 1917; fought Bolsheviks in Don area; killed in battle.

Korolenko, Vladimir Galaktionovich (1853–1921). Peasant democratic writer; persecuted under Tsars; viewed as bourgeois by Bolsheviks.

Kosarev, Aleksandr Vasilyevich (1903–1939). Leader of the Komsomol, 1929–1938.

Kosior, Stanislav Vikentyevich (1889–1939). Ukrainian Bolshevik leader; shot in purges.

Kozyrev, Nikolai Aleksandrovich (1908–). Astronomer; in prison, 1937–1948.

Krasikov, Pyotr Ananyevich (1870–1939). Old Bolshevik; prosecuting and justice official in 1920’s and 1930’s.

Krasnov (Levitin), Anatoly Emanuilovich (1915—). Religious writer; imprisoned under Stalin; in dissident movement after 1960.

Krasnov, Pyotr Nikolayevich (1869–1947). Don Cossack leader; emigrated in 1919; led pro-German Russian units in World War II; handed over by Allies after war and executed in Soviet Union.

Krestinsky, Nikolai Nikolayevich (1883–1938). Bolshevik Party official and diplomat; shot after 1938 show trial.

Kruglov, Sergei Nikiforovich (1903–). Minister of Interior, 1946–1956.

Krylenko, Nikolai Vasilyevich (1885–1938). Chief state prosecutor, 1918–1931; later People’s Commissar of Justice; shot in 1938.

Krylov, Ivan Andreyevich (1769–1844). Noted fabulist.

Kuibyshev, Valerian Vladimirovich (1888–1935). Prominent economic planning official; died under mysterious circumstances.

Kupriyanov, G. N. Karelian Party official; arrested in 1949.

Kursky, Dmitri Ivanovich (1874–1932). People’s Commissar of Justice, 1918–1928; envoy to Italy, 1928–1932.

Kuskova, Yekaterina Dmitriyevna (1869–1958). Cadet, later SR; figure in Famine Relief case 1921; exiled in 1922.

Kuznetsov, Aleksei Aleksandrovich (1905–1950). Lieutenant general, one of the organizers of the defense of Leningrad, Secretary of the Central Committee, convicted in connection with the Leningrad Affair.

Kuznetsov, Col. Gen. Vasily Ivanovich (1894–1964). Soviet military leader in World War II.

Lapshin, Ivan Ivanovich (1870–1948). Philosopher; exiled in 1922 to Prague, where he died.

Larichev, Viktor A. (1887–?). Chairman, Main Fuels Committee; figure in Promparty trial in 1930.

Larin, Y. (Lurye, Mikhail Aleksandrovich) (1882–1932). Agricultural economist; former Menshevik; helped found Soviet planning system.

Latsis (Lacis), Martyn Ivanovich (Sudrabs, Yan Fridrikhovich) (1888–1941). Early Cheka official, 1917–1921; director, Plekhanov Economics Institute, 1932–1937; arrested 1937.

Lelyushenko, Dmitri Danilovich (1901—). Soviet World War II leader.

Lermontov, Mikhail Yuryevich (1814–1841). Liberal poet.

Levina, Revekka Saulovna (1899–1964). Soviet economist.

Levitan, Yuri Borisovich (1914–). Soviet radio announcer noted for his sonorous voice, which became familiar through announcement of major Soviet successes in World War II and other news events.

Levitin. See Krasnov, A. E.

Likhachev, Nikolai Petrovich (1862–1935). Historian, specialist on ikon painting.

Lomonosov, Mikhail Vasilyevich (1711–1765). Universal scholar; in Russian spiritual history, prototype of scientific genius arising from the people.

Lordkipanidze, G. S. (1881–1937). Georgian writer; died in purge.

Loris-Melikov, Mikhail Tarpelovich (1825–1888). Powerful Tsarist Interior Minister, 1880–1881; initiator of unimplemented reforms.

Lorkh, Aleksandr Georgiyevich (1889–). Prominent potato breeder.

Lossky, Nikolai Onufriyevich (1870–1965). Philosopher; exiled in 1922.

Lozovsky, A. (Dridzo, Solomon Abramovich) (1878–1952). Revolutionary; chief of Trade Union International, 1921–1937; Deputy People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs and head of Sovinformburo in World War II; shot in anti-Jewish purge.

Lunacharsky, Anatoly Vasilyevich (1875–1932). Marxist cultural theorist; People’s Commissar for Education, 1917–1929.

Lunin, Mikhail Sergeyevich (1787–1845). One of the Decembrists; wrote philosophical and political tracts in Siberian exile.

Lysenko, Trofim Denisovich (1898–). Agricultural biologist; virtual dictator of Soviet science after 1940 under Stalin, and of biology in the Khrushchev era until 1964.

Maisky, Ivan Mikhailovich (1884–). Historian and diplomat; former Menshevik; envoy to Britain, 1932–1943; Deputy Foreign Commissar, 1943–1946.

Makarenko, Anton Semyonovich (1888–1939). Educator; organized rehabilitation colonies for juvenile delinquents.

Malinovsky, Roman Vatslavovich (1876–1918). Tsarist police informer planted among Bolsheviks; emigrated in 1914; returned to Russia voluntarily in 1918, when he was tried and executed.

Mandelstam, Osip Emilyevich (1891–1938). Acmeist poet; died in transit camp.

Mariya, Mother. See Skobtsova.

Markos, Gen. Vafiades (1906–). Greek leftist rebel leader, 1947–1948.

Martov (Tsederbaum), Yuli Osipovich (1873–1923). A Menshevik leader; exiled by Lenin in 1921.

Mayakovsky, Vladimir Vladimirovich (1893–1930). Futurist poet; suicide.

Meck, Nikolai Karlovich von (1863–1929). Tsarist railroad industrialist; worked for Bolsheviks after 1917; accused of counterrevolutionary activities and shot.

Melgunov, Sergei Petrovich (1879–1956). Historian and Popular Socialist leader; exiled in 1923; lived in Paris.

Menshikov, Aleksandr Danilovich (1673–1729). Military leader and statesman; favorite of Peter the Great and Catherine I.

Menzhinsky, Vyacheslav Rudolfovich (1874–1934). Secret police official; headed OGPU, 1926–1934.

Meretskov, Marshal Kirill Afanasyevich (1897–1968). World War II leader.

Merezhkovsky, Dmitri Sergeyevich (1865–1941). Philosopher and novelist; founder of Symbolist movement; emigrated 1919 to Paris.

Mikhailov, Nikolai Aleksandrovich (1906–). Chief of Komsomol, 1938–1952; later envoy to Poland and Indonesia, Minister of Culture, chairman of State Publishing Committee; retired 1970.

Mikolajczyk, Stanislaw (1901–1966). Polish Peasant Party leader; in Polish government in exile during World War II; in Polish postwar government, 1945–1947.

Mikoyan, Anastas Ivanovich (1895–). Close associate of Stalin; in charge of consumer-goods area; foreign policy adviser to Khrushchev; retired 1966.

Milyukov, Pavel Nikolayevich (1859–1943). Leader of Constitutional Democratic Party and historian; emigrated in 1920; died in U.S.A.

Mirovich, Vasily Yakovlevich (1740–1764). Attempted palace coup under Catherine II in favor of pretender Ivan IV Antonovich.

Molotov (Skryabin), Vyacheslav Mikhailovich (1890–). Close associate of Stalin; served as Premier and Foreign Minister; ousted by Khrushchev after so-called 1957 anti-Party coup; retired.

Monomakh. See Vladimir II.

Myakotin, Venedikt Aleksandrovich (1867–1937). Historian and a founder of Popular Socialist Party; exiled in 1922.

Nabokov (Sirin), Vladimir (1899–). Russian-American writer; son of F. D. Sirin, a Cadet leader, who emigrated in 1919.

Narokov (Marchenko), Nikolai Vladimirovich (1887–1969). Émigréwriter; left Soviet Union in World War II; lived in Monterey, Calif.

Natanson, Mark Andreyevich (1850–1919). Populist, later a Socialist Revolutionary; sided with Bolsheviks during World War I; died in Switzerland.

Nekrasov, Nikolai Alekseyevich (1821–1878). Civic poet.

Novikov, Nikolai Ivanovich (1744–1818). Writer and social critic; incarcerated in Schlüsselburg Fortress under Catherine II.

Novorussky, Mikhail Vasilyevich (1861–1925). Revolutionary, convicted with Aleksandr Ulyanov after abortive attempt to assassinate Alexander III in 1887; death sentence commuted to imprisonment in Schlüsselburg.

Obolensky, Yevgeny Petrovich (1796–1865). One of the Decembrists; death sentence commuted to 20 years’ Siberian exile.

Olitskaya, Yekaterina Lvovna (1898—). Soviet dissident writer whose prison-camp memoirs circulated in samizdat and were published in 1971 by Possev, Russian-language publishing house of Frankfurt, West Germany.

Olminsky (Aleksandrov), Mikhail Stepanovich (1863–1933). Early professional revolutionary, journalist.

Ordzhonikidze, Grigory (Sergo) Konstantinovich (1886–1937). Close associate of Stalin, charged with heavy industry; a suicide during purges.

Osorgin (Ilin), Mikhail Andreyevich (1878–1942). Writer; exiled in 1922.

Palchinsky, Pyotr Akimovich (1878–1929). Economist and mining engineer; chief defendant in Shakhty trial of 1928; shot.

Pasternak, Boris Leonidovich (1890–1960). Poet and novelist; 1958 Nobel laureate.

Perkhurov, Aleksandr Petrovich (1876–1922). Anti-Bolshevik military commander; shot in Yaroslavl in 1922.

Peshekhonov, Aleksei Vasilyevich (1867–1933). Writer; exiled in 1922.

Peshkova-Vinaver, Yekaterina Pavlovna (1876–1965). First wife of Maxim Gorky; headed Political Red Cross.

Pestel, Pavel Ivanovich (1793–1826). One of the Decembrists, leader of radical wing; hanged.

Peters, Yakov Khristoforovich (1886–1942). Latvian revolutionary; high secret police official in 1920’s; liquidated.

Petlyura, Simon Vasilyevich (1879–1926). Ukrainian nationalist leader; headed anti-Bolshevik forces in Ukraine, 1918–1919; assassinated in Paris exile.

Pilnyak (Vogau), Boris Andreyevich (1894–1937). Soviet writer; accused of distorting revolutionary events; died in prison.

Platonov, Sergei Fyodorovich (1860–1933). Historian; in official disfavor in early 1930’s.

Plekhanov, Georgi Valentinovich (1856–1918). Marxist philosopher and historian, became a Menshevik leader; opposed Bolsheviks’ 1917 coup.

Pletnev, Dmitri Dmitriyevich (1872–1953). Physician; sentenced to 25 years after 1938 show trial.

Pobedonostsev, Konstantin Petrovich (1827–1907). Lawyer and politician; Procurator of the Holy Synod; his reactionary Russian nationalist views were influential under Alexander III and in the early reign of Nicholas II.

Postyshev, Pavel Petrovich (1887–1940). Ukrainian Bolshevik leader; arrested in 1938; died in prison.

Potemkin, Grigory Aleksandrovich (1739–1791). Military leader and favorite of Catherine the Great.

Prokopovich, Sergei Nikolayevich (1871–1955). Economist and a Cadet leader; figure in 1921 Famine Relief Commission trial; expelled 1922.

Ptukhin, Lieut. Gen. Yevgeny Savvich (1900–1941). Soviet Air Force commander; executed after German attack against Soviet Union.

Pugachev, Yemelyan Ivanovich (1742–1775). Leader of a major peasant revolt against Catherine II; executed.

Radek, Karl Berngardovich (1885–1939). Comintern official, later journalist; shot after 1937 show trial.

Radishchev, Aleksandr Nikolayevich (1749–1802). Writer and social critic; exiled to Siberia by Catherine II.

Rakovsky, Khristian Georgiyevich (1873–1941). Bolshevik official who served as Ukrainian Premier, 1919–1923, and diplomat, 1923–1927; imprisoned after 1938 show trial; daughter Yelena arrested 1948.

Ramzin, Leonid Konstantinovich (1887–1948). Heat engineer; principal defendant in 1930 Promparty trial; death sentence commuted to 10 years; professionally active again during World War II.

Ransome, Arthur (1884–1967). British journalist; wrote on Bolshevik Revolution.

Raskolnikov (Ilin), Fyodor Fyodorovich (1892–1939). Bolshevik diplomat; defected in France; died under mysterious circumstances.

Rasputin, Grigory Yefimovich (1872–1916). Adventurer with strong influence over family of Nicholas II; killed by courtiers.

Razin, Stepan Timofeyevich (Stenka) (1630?–1671). Leader of a Cossack and peasant rebellion in the middle and lower Volga territories, he was defeated and executed; legendary figure in Russian national poetry.

Reilly, Sidney George (1874–1925). British intelligence officer; killed while crossing Soviet-Finnish border.

Repin, Ilya Yefimovich (1844–1930). Prominent painter; one of his works depicts the Volga boatmen.

Rokossovsky, Marshal Konstantin Konstantinovich (1896–1968). Soviet World War II leader; Defense Minister in Poland, 1949–1956.

Romanov, Panteleimon Sergeyevich (1884–1938). Soviet satirist.

Rudzutak, Yan Ernestovich (1887–1938). Associate of Stalin; arrested 1937; died in prison.

Ryabushinsky, Pavel Pavlovich (1871–1924). Russian industrialist and anti-Bolshevik leader; mentioned in 1930 Promparty trial.

Rykov, Aleksei Ivanovich (1881–1938). Close associate of Stalin; Premier of Soviet Union, 1924–1930; shot after 1938 show trial.

Ryleyev, Kondrati Fyodorovich (1795–1826). A Decembrist; hanged.

Rysakov, Nikolai Ivanovich (1861–1881). A revolutionary of Narodnaya Volya group; executed after assassination of Alexander II in 1881.

Ryumin, M. D. (?–1953). Secret police official who engineered the “doctors’ case”; executed 1953.

Ryurik. Legendary Varangian prince who came to Novgorod in midninth century and founded first Russian dynasty.

Sakharov, Col. Igor K. Émigré who commanded pro-German Russian military unit in World War II.

Saltychikha (Saltykova, Darya Nikolayevna) (1730–1801). Woman landowner in Moscow Province; noted for cruel treatment of serfs.

Samsonov, Aleksandr Vasilyevich (1859–1914). Tsarist general; suicide after his forces were defeated in East Prussia in World War I.

Savinkov, Boris Viktorovich (1879–1925). A Socialist Revolutionary leader; arrested after he re-entered Russia illegally in 1924.

Savva (1327–1406). Russian Orthodox saint; pupil of Sergius of Radonezh.

Sedin, Ivan K. People’s Commissar for Petroleum in World War II.

Selivanov, Dmitri Fyodorovich (1885–?). Mathematician; emigrated 1922.

Serebryakova, Galina Iosifovna (1905–). Writer; author of camp memoirs.

Sergius of Radonezh (1321–1391). Russian Orthodox saint; founded monasteries, including Trinity-St. Sergius at Zagorsk, near his home town, Radonezh.

Serov, Ivan Aleksandrovich (1905–). Secret police official; chairman of KGB, 1954–1958.

Shalamov, Varlam Tikhonovich (1907–). Writer; spent 17 years in Kolyma camps; author of Kolyma Stories (Paris, 1969).

Shchastny, Captain Aleksei Mikhailovich (?–1918). Commander of Red Baltic Fleet; executed.

Shcherbakov, Alekandr Sergeyevich (1901–1945). Close associate of Stalin; Moscow city secretary, 1938–1945; Chief of Red Army’s Political Department, 1942–1945.

Sheinin, Lev Romanovich (1906–1967). Soviet prosecuting and investigatory official; wrote spy stories after 1950.

Sheshkovsky, Stepan Ivanovich (1727–1793). Judicial investigator under Catherine II; known for harsh interrogatory techniques.

Shmidt, Pyotr Petrovich (1867–1906). Lieutenant in Black Sea Fleet; executed after Sevastopol revolt.

Sholokhov, Mikhail Aleksandrovich (1905–). Soviet writer; 1965 Nobel laureate.

Shulgin, Vasily Vitalyevich (1878–1965). Monarchist; emigrated after 1917 Revolution; caught by Red Army in Yugoslavia at end of World War II; served 10 years in labor camp.

Shvemik, Nikolai Mikhailovich (1888–1970). Associate of Stalin; trade-union chief, 1930–1944 and 1953–1956; President of Soviet Union, 1946–1953.

Sikorski, Wladyslaw (1881–1943). Military leader of Polish exiles.

Skobtsova, Yelizaveta Yuryevna (1892–1945). Acmeist poet; emigrated to Paris, where she became a nun (Mother Mariya); died in Nazi camp.

Skrypnik, Nikolai Alekseyevich (1872–1933). Ukrainian People’s Commissar for Justice (1922–1927) and Education (1927–1933); suicide.

Skuratov, Malyuta (Belsky, Grigory Lukyanovich) (?–1572). Trusted aide of Ivan the Terrible; personifies Ivan’s cruelties; headed Oprichnina, a policelike organization.

Smirnov, Ivan Nikitovich (1881–1936). Soviet People’s Commissar for Communications, 1923–1927; expelled from Party; shot after 1936 trial.

Smushkevich, Yakov Vladimirovich (1902–1941). Soviet Air Force commander; executed after German invasion.

Sokolnikov, Grigory Yakovlevich (1888–1939). Soviet People’s Commissar of Finance, 1922–1926; envoy to Britain, 1929–1934; sentenced to 10 years after 1937 show trial; died in prison.

Solovyev, Vladimir Sergeyevich (1853–1900). Religious philosopher; sought synthesis of Russian Orthodox faith and Western scientific thought and Roman Catholicism.

Stalin, Iosif Vissarionovich (1879–1953). Soviet political leader; named General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1922. After Lenin’s death in 1924, he gradually eliminated political rivals in series of purges culminating in great trials of 1936–1938. His original family name was Dzhugashvili; revolutionary party name was Koba.

Stanislavsky, Konstantin Sergeyevich (1863–1938). Stage director; cofounder of the Moscow Art Theater in 1898; known in the West for the “Stanislavsky method” of acting technique.

Stepun, Fyodor Augustovich (1884–1965). Philosopher; expelled in 1922.

Stolypin, Pyotr Arkadyevich (1862–1911). Tsarist statesman; served as Minister of Interior after 1906; known for agrarian reform resettling poor peasants in Siberia; slain by an SR.

Sudrabs. See Latsis.

Sukhanov (Gimmer), Nikolai Nikolayevich (1882–1940). Menshevik historian; meeting at his apartment in Petrograd in October, 1917, the Bolsheviks decided to launch an armed uprising; figure in 1931 Menshevik trial; released after hunger strike; rearrested in purges of late 1930’s; author of detailed account of the Bolshevik Revolution.

Surikov, Vasily Ivanovich (1848–1916). Historical painter of the realist school.

Suvorov, Aleksandr Vasilyevich (1729–1800). Military leader; led Italian and Swiss campaigns against Napoleon.

Svechin, Aleksandr Andreyevich (1878–1935). Military historian; shot.

Sverdlov, Yakov Mikhailovich (1885–1919). First Soviet President.

Tagantsev, Nikolai Stepanovich (1843–1923). Writer on criminal law.

Tarle, Yevgeny Viktorovich (1875–1955). Soviet historian; was briefly in official disfavor in early 1930’s.

Tikhon, Patriarch (1865–1925). Head of Russian Orthodox Church after 1917; detained 1922–1923 on oppositionist charges.

Timofeyev-Ressovsky, Nikolai Vladimirovich (1900–). Soviet radio-biologist; worked in Germany, 1924–1945; spent 10 years in Stalin camps after return to Soviet Union.

Tolstoi, Alexandra Lvovna (1884–). Youngest dauthter of Lev Tolber of 1937 Supreme Soviet (national legislature).

Tolstoi, Alexandra Lvovna (1884—). Youngest daughter of Lev Tolstoi; author of a biography of her father; lives in the U.S., where she founded the Tolstoi Foundation for aid to refugees.

Tomsky, Mikhail Pavlovich (1880–1936). First Soviet chief of trade unions, until 1929; suicide in Stalin purges.

Trotsky (Bronshtein), Lev (Leon) Davidovich (1879–1940). Associate of Lenin; first Soviet Defense Commissar, until 1925; expelled from Party in 1927; deported to Turkey in 1929; slain in Mexico City by a Soviet agent.

Trubetskoi, Sergei Petrovich (1790–1860). One of the Decembrists; death sentence commuted to exile; amnestied in 1856.

Tsvetayeva, Marina Ivanovna (1892–1941). Poet; lived abroad 1922 to 1939; a suicide two years after return to Soviet Union.

Tukhachevsky, Mikhail Nikolayevich (1893–1937). Soviet military leader; shot in 1937 on trumped-up treason charges.

Tur Brothers. Pen names of two playwrights and authors of spy stories: Leonid Davydovich Tubelsky (1905–1961) and Pyotr Lvovich Ryzhei (1908–).

Tynyanov, Yuri Nikolayevich (1895–1943). Soviet writer and literary scholar.

Ulrikh, Vasily Vasilyevich (1889–1951). Supreme Court justice; presided over major trials of 1920’s and 1930’s.

Ulyanov, Aleksandr Ilyich (1866–1887). Lenin’s older brother; executed after unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Alexander III in 1887.

Ulyanova (Yelizarova-Ulyanova), Anna Ilyinichna (1874–1935). Lenin’s sister; journalist and editor.

Uritsky, Moisei Solomonovich (1873–1918). Revolutionary; chairman of the Petrograd Cheka; his assassination by an SR set off Red Terror.

Utyosov, Leonid Osipovich (1895–). Soviet orchestra leader and variety-stage star.

Valentinov (Volsky), Nikolai Vladislavovich (1879–1964). Journalist and philosopher; former Bolshevik turned Menshevik; emigrated 1930.

Vasilyev-Yuzhin, Mikhail Ivanovich (1876–1937). Revolutionary; secret police and justice official.

Vavilov, Nikolai Ivanovich (1887–1943). Prominent plant geneticist; Director of Institute of Applied Botany (1924–1940) and Institute of Genetics (1930–1940); arrested 1940; died in imprisonment.

Vereshchagin, Vasily Vasilyevich (1842–1904). Painter noted for battle scenes.

Vladimir II Monomakh. Ruler of Kievan Russia, 1113–1125.

Vladimirov (Sheinfinkel), Miron Konstantinovich (1879–1925). Early Soviet official in agriculture, finance and economic management.

Vlasov, Lieut. Gen. Andrei Andreyevich (1900–1946). Red Army officer; captured by Germans in 1942; led Russian forces against Soviet Union; handed over by Allies after war and executed.

Voikov, Pyotr Lazarevich (1888–1927). Bolshevik revolutionary; Soviet representative in Warsaw, 1924–1927; assassinated by an émigré.

Voloshin, Maksimilian Aleksandrovich (1878–1932). Symbolist poet and watercolorist; opposed Bolsheviks.

Voroshilov, Kliment Yefremovich (1881–1969). Close associate of Stalin; long Defense Commissar; Soviet President, 1953–1960.

Vysheslavtsev, Boris Petrovich (1877–1954). Philosopher; exiled in 1922.

Vyshinsky, Andrei Yanuaryevich (1883–1954). Lawyer and diplomat; former Menshevik turned Bolshevik; chief state prosecutor in show trials, 1936–1938; Deputy Foreign Commissar and Minister, 1939–1949 and 1953–1954; Foreign Minister, 1949–1953.

Wrangel, Pyotr Nikolayevich (1878–1928). Tsarist military commander; led anti-Bolshevik forces in South in 1920 after Denikin.

Yagoda, Genrikh Grigoryevich (1891–1938). Secret police official; People’s Commissar of Internal Affairs, 1934–1936; shot after 1938 show trial.

Yakubovich, Pyotr Filippovich (1860–1911). Poet; translated Baudelaire; wrote memoirs about his Tsarist exile.

Yaroshenko, Nikolai Aleksandrovich (1846–1898). Painter.

Yenukidze, Avel Safronovich (1877–1937). Bolshevik official; Secretary of Central Executive Committee, 1918–1935; shot in purges.

Yermilov, Vladimir Vladimirovich (1904–1965). Soviet literary critic.

Yesenin, Sergei Aleksandrovich (1895–1925). Imagist poet; suicide.

Yezhov, Nikolai Ivanovich (1895–1939). Secret police official; People’s Commissar of Internal Affairs, 1936–1938.

Yudenich, Nikolai Nikolayevich (1862–1933). Tsarist military commander; led anti-Bolshevik forces in Estonia, 1918–1920.

Zalygin, Sergei Pavlovich (1913–). Soviet writer.

Zamyatin, Yevgeny Ivanovich (1884–1937). Writer; returned 1917 from abroad, but opposed Bolsheviks; emigrated in 1932; his novel We, published in London in 1924, influenced Huxley, Orwell.

Zasulich, Vera Ivanovna (1849–1919). Revolutionary; acquitted after attempt to assassinate Mayor of St. Petersburg; emigrated 1880; returned 1905; became Menshevik.

Zavalishin, Dmitri Irinarkhovich (1804–1892). One of the Decembrists; sentenced to 20 years’ Siberian exile; worked as journalist after 1863.

Zhdanov, Andrei Aleksandrovich (1896–1948). Close associate of Stalin; shaped cultural policy after World War II.

Zhebrak, Anton Romanovich (1901–1965). Soviet geneticist.

Zhelyabov, Andrei Ivanovich (1851–1881). Revolutionary; executed after his assassination of Alexander II in 1881.

Zhukov, Marshal Georgi Konstantinovich (1896–). World War II leader.

Zinoviev (Apfelbaum), Grigory Yevseyevich (1883–1936). Associate of Lenin; expelled from Party in 1927; shot after 1936 show trial.

Institutions and Terms

All-Russian Central Executive Committee. See VTsIK.

April Theses. A programmatic statement issued by Lenin in April, 1917, calling for end of war with Germany and transfer of power to the Soviets.

Basmachi. Name given to anti-Bolshevik forces in Central Asia after 1917 Revolution.

Black Hundreds. Armed reactionary groups in Tsarist Russia; active from about 1905 to 1917 in pogroms of Jews and political assassinations of liberal personalities.

Butyrki. A major Moscow prison, named for a district of Moscow; often known also as Butyrka.

Cadet. See Constitutional Democratic Party.

Chechen. Ethnic group of Northern Caucasus; exiled by Stalin in 1944 on charges of collaboration with German forces.

Cheka. Original name of the Soviet secret police, 1917–1922; succeeded by GPU.

Chinese Eastern Railroad. A Manchurian rail system built (1897–1903) as part of original Trans-Siberian Railroad. Jointly operated by Chinese and Soviet authorities until 1935 (when it was sold to Japanese-dominated Manchukuo government) and again in 1945–1950. Russian acronym: KVZhD.

Codes. The 1926 Criminal Code and the 1923 Code of Criminal Procedure were repealed in 1958 with the adoption of new Fundamental Principles of Criminal Legislation and Criminal Procedure; in 1960 these were embodied in a new Criminal Code and a new Code of Criminal Procedure.

Collegium. Governing board of Soviet government departments and other institutions.

Comintern. Acronym for Communist International, the world organization of Communist parties that existed from 1919 to 1943.

Committee of the Poor, also known by the Russian acronym Kombed. A Bolshevik-dominated organization of poor peasants (1918).

Constituent Assembly. A multiparty legislative body with large anti-Bolshevik majority, elected in November, 1917, after the Bolshevik Revolution. It met in January, 1918, but was broken up when it refused to adopt Bolshevik proposals.

Constitutional Democratic Party. Founded in 1905 under the Tsars, advocating a constitutional monarchy; played a conservative role after overthrow of Tsar; members were known as Cadets, from a Russian acronym for the party.

Council of People’s Commissars. Name given the Soviet cabinet (government) before 1946, when it became the Council of Ministers; also known by Russian acronym Sovnarkom.

Crimean Tatars. Exiled by Stalin to Central Asia in 1944 on charges of collaboration with Germans.

Dashnak. Anti-Bolshevik group in Armenia after 1917 Revolution.

Decembrists. Group of Russian officers who took part in unsuccessful liberal uprising against Nicholas I in December, 1825.

Doctors’ case. The arrest of leading Kremlin physicians, most of them Jews, in 1952 on trumped-up charges of plotting against the lives of Soviet leaders. At least one, Y. G. Etinger, is believed to have died under interrogation; the others were released after Stalin’s death in 1953.

Famine Relief, State Commission for. A Soviet governmental body, set up in 1921–1922; also known by the Russian acronym Pomgol.

GPU. Designation for Soviet secret police in 1922; acronym for Russian words meaning State Political Administration; continued to be used popularly after 1922, when the official designation became OGPU, acronym for United State Political Administration.

Gulag. The Soviet penal system under Stalin; a Russian acronym for Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps.

Hehalutz. Zionist movement that prepared young Jews for settling in Holy Land; it founded most of the kibbutzim.

Hiwi. German designation for Russian volunteers in German armed forces during World War II; acronym for Hilfswillige.

Industrial Academy. A Moscow school that served as training ground of industrial managers in late 1920’s and early 1930’s.

Industrial Party. See Promparty.

Informburo. See Sovinformburo.

Ingush. Ethnic group of Northern Caucasus; exiled by Stalin in 1944 on charges of collaboration with Germans.

Isolator. (1) Type of political prison established in early stage of Soviet regime for fractious Bolsheviks and other political foes. (2) In a labor camp, the designation for a building with punishment cells.

Kalmyks. Ethnic group of Northern Caucasus; exiled by Stalin in 1943 on charges of collaboration with German forces.

KGB. Acronym for Soviet secret police after 1953; stands for State Security Committee.

Khalkhin-Gol. River on border between China and Mongolia. Scene of Soviet-Japanese military clashes in 1939.

Khasan. Lake on Soviet-Chinese border, near Sea of Japan. Scene of Soviet-Japanese military clash in 1938.

Kolyma. Region of northeast Siberia; center of labor camps under Stalin.

Komsomol. Russian acronym for Young Communist League.

KVZhD. See Chinese Eastern Railroad.

Labor day. Accounting unit on collective farms.

Lubyanka. Popular designation for secret police headquarters and prison in central Moscow, named for adjacent street and square (now Dzerzhinsky Street and Square); housed Rossiya Insurance Company before the 1917 Revolution.

Makhorka. A coarse tobacco (Nicotiana rustica) grown mainly in the Ukraine.

Mensheviks. Democratic faction of Marxist socialists; split in 1903 from Bolshevik majority; repressed after 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.

MGB. Initials for Soviet secret police, 1946–1953; acronym for Ministry of State Security; succeeded by KGB.

MVD. Russian acronym for Ministry of Interior; performed secret police function briefly in 1953.

Narodnaya Volya (literal translation: People’s Will). Secret terrorist society dedicated to overthrowing Tsarism; existed from 1879 until disbanded in 1881 after assassination of Alexander II.

Narodnik (Populist). Member of populist revolutionary movement under the Tsars.

NEP. Acronym for New Economic Policy, a period of limited private enterprise, 1921–1928.

Nine grams. A bullet.

NKGB. Designation of Soviet secret police, 1943–1946; acronym for People’s Commissariat of State Security.

NKVD. Designation of Soviet secret police, 1934–1943; acronym for People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs.

OGPU. Designation of Soviet secret police, 1922–1934; acronym for United State Political Administration.

Okhrana. Name of Tsarist secret police from 1881 to 1917; Russian word means “protection,” replacing the full designation Department for the Protection of Public Security and Order.

OSO. See Special Board.

People’s Commissariat. Name of Soviet government departments from 1917 to 1946, when they were renamed “Ministry.”

Petrograd. Official name of Leningrad, 1914–1924.

Polizei. German word for “police”; designation of Russians who served as police under German occupation in World War II.

Pomgol. See Famine Relief.

Popular Socialist Party. Founded in 1906, it favored general democratic reforms, opposed terrorism.

Promparty. Mixed Russian-English acronym for Industrial Party (in Russian, Promyshlennaya Partiya). Nonexistent underground to which the organization of industrial managers tried in 1930 allegedly belonged.

Provisional Government. Coalition government of Russia after overthrow of Tsarism, March to November, 1917; first under Prince Georgi Lvov, later under Kerensky; overthrown by Bolsheviks.

Revolutionary Tribunal (Revtribunal). Special Soviet courts (1917—1922), which tried counterrevolutionary cases.

Russkaya Pravda. Political program of the Decembrists; drafted by Pestel; the Russian words mean “Russian truth.”

Sapropelite Committee. A scientific study group that sought to use bituminous lake-bottom ooze, or sapropel, as a fuel around 1920.

Schlüsselburg. Fortress on Lake Ladoga, at outlet of Neva River; used as political prison under Tsars; now called Petrokrepost.

Schutzbund. Armed contingents of Austrian Social Democrats; members sought refuge in Soviet Union in 1934 after defeat in civil war.

Sharashka. Russian prison slang for a special research center in which the research scientists, specialists, and technicians are all prisoners under prison discipline.

Short Course. Familiar title of the standard Stalinist version of the history of the Soviet Communist Party; used as the official text from 1938 until after Stalin’s death in 1953.

SMERSH. Acronym for Soviet counterintelligence during World War II; stands for “death to spies.”

Smolny. Former girls’ school; Communist Party headquarters in Leningrad.

Socialist Revolutionary Party. Created in 1890’s out of several populist groups; split at first congress held in Finland in December, 1905, into right wing, opposed to terrorism, and left wing, favoring terrorism; SR’s played key role in Provisional Government; left wing cooperated briefly with Bolsheviks after Revolution.

Solovetsky Islands (colloquially known as Solovki). Island group in White Sea, with monasteries; used as place of exile for rebellious priests in Middle Ages; early forced-labor camp (SLON) after 1917 Revolution.

Sovinformburo. Soviet information agency in World War II.

Sovnarkom. See Council of People’s Commissars.

Special Board (Russian acronym: OSO). Three-man boards of People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs, with powers to sentence “socially dangerous” persons without trial; abolished in 1953.

SR. See Socialist Revolutionary Party.

Stolypin car. A railroad car used to transport prisoners, named for P. A. Stolypin; also known in prison slang as vagonzak, for vagon zaklyuchennykh (prisoner car).

Supreme Council of the Economy. Highest industrial management agency in early years of Soviet regime; established in 1917; abolished 1932, when it was divided into industrial ministries.

Supreme Soviet. The national legislature of the Soviet Union, with counterparts in its constituent republics; meets usually twice a year to approve decisions taken by the Soviet leadership. Its lawmaking function is performed between sessions by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet; nominally the highest state body in the Soviet Union.

Time of Troubles. A period of hardship and confusion during the Polish and Swedish invasions of Russia in the early seventeenth century.

Union Bureau. See Mensheviks.

UPK. Code of Criminal Procedure. See Codes.

Verkhtrib. Russian acronym for Supreme Tribunal (1918–1922), which tried the most important cases in the early Soviet period.

Vikzhel. Railroad workers union, opposed Bolsheviks after 1917 Revolution; acronym stands for All-Russian Executive Committee of Railroad Workers Union.

VSNKh. See Supreme Council of the Economy.

VTsIK. Acronym for All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the highest state body of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, the largest Soviet state, from 1917 to 1937, when it was succeeded by the Presidium of the Republic’s Supreme Soviet. The national equivalent of VTsIK was TsIK, the Central Executive Committee of the U.S.S.R. (1922–1938), which became the Presidium of the national Supreme Soviet.

Workers Opposition. Bolshevik faction that sought greater trade-union control of industry and greater democracy within Party; its activities were condemned at Tenth Party Congress in 1921, and some leaders were later expelled from Party and arrested.

Zek. Prison slang for prisoner, derived from zaklyuchenny, Russian word for “prisoner.”

Zemstvo. Local government unit in prerevolutionary Russia.